Chhindwara

Chhindwara, a town and district of British India, in the Nerbudda division of the Central Provinces. The site of the town is 2200 ft. above sea-level, and is surrounded by ranges of low hills. The European station extends for nearly 2 m. and is well wooded. It is considered very healthy, and forms a resort for European visitors from Nagpur and Kampti during the hot weather.

The area of the District of Chhindwara is 4631 sq. m. It has two natural subdivisions—the hill country above the slopes of the Satpura mountains, called the Balaghat, and a tract of low land to the south called the Zerghat. The high tableland of the Balaghat lies for the most part upon the great basaltic formation which stretches across the Satpuras as far east as Jubbulpore. The country consists of a regular succession of hills and fertile valleys, formed by the small ranges which cross its surface east and west. The average height of the uplands is 2500 ft., but there are many points of greater elevation. The appearance of the Zerghat below the hills is generally open and undulating. The country is intersected by several streams, of which the Kanhan is the most considerable. Near the hills and along the streams are strips and patches of jungle; the villages are usually surrounded with picturesque groves of tamarind, mango and other shade-giving trees. In the hill-country the climate is temperate and healthy. In the cold season ice is frequently seen in the small tanks at an elevation of about 2000 ft. Until May the hot wind is little felt, while during the rains the weather is cool and agreeable. The average annual rainfall amounts to 36 in. Pop. (1901) 407,927. There are manufactures of cotton cloth and brassware. Coal in this neighbourhood began to be worked after the opening of a branch of the Bengal-Nagpur railway to Chhindwara and the coalfields to the north in 1905.

Chhindwara formed part of the dominions of the ancient Gond dynasty of Chhindwara and Nagpur, whose seat was at Deogarh until, in the 18th century, it was removed by Chand Sultan, son of Bakht Buland (founder of the short-lived greatness of the dynasty, and of the city of Nagpur) to Nagpur (see Gondwana and Nagpur).